DO I have something hooked up wrong? (video attached)

[dlotz]

Here is the set up:
1965 427 Side oiler (.007 bore)
Iron MR OEM Heads
Blue thunder NR intake
Dual BC/BD Holleys
Surge tank
180 degree thermo (drilled burp hole in top of thermostat)
Kirkham oil breather canister
Pent roof valve covers (no breathers)
comp flat tappet cam
Avaid oil pan
Brad Penn oil (still has break in oil in it).

Ok, so I have A LOT of (what looks like) steam pouring out of my oil fill neck, dip stick tube and oil vapor canister once the engine warms up as you can see in the video. I understand the vapor pouring out the top of the oil vapor canister, but wondering if that is an excessive ammount? I have never seen vapor come out of a dip stick tube or the oil filler neck.

For you guys that are running a similar set up as I am (traditional/vintage cobra) is this normal?

This is a fresh rebuild with all new/restored parts. We think it might be a pin hole somewhere in the block, but cannot locate it without a complete tear down, and might not find it at all. It does not show up cold (during initial psi test) only after the block warms up. My builder has not seen the engine in my chassis (complete set up) only on his dyno so I am wondering if I have something set up incorrectly causing improper venting or excessive steam being trapped?

I only have 138 miles on the car and the inside of my oil vapor canister is rusting like crazy already which makes me think something is wrong/excessive.

Your thoughts?

[elmariachi]

Ouch. How does the oil look?

[dlotz]

Originally Posted by elmariachi

Ouch. How does the oil look?

Oil is fine! Not milky at all. It doesn't appear to be getting into the oil.

[flipscobra]

Pull your vave covers after it has warmed up see it they are milky ao look like clabber, if they are definetly something wrong, is your water level staying up,might be intake leaking.

[dlotz]

Originally Posted by flipscobra

Pull your vave covers after it has warmed up see it they are milky ao look like clabber, if they are definetly something wrong, is your water level staying up,might be intake leaking.

We've checked the gaskets and no signs of a leak which makes us think it is a pin hole somewhere.

Block was pressure teated and nothing showed when it was cold.

[dlotz]

Originally Posted by flipscobra

Pull your vave covers after it has warmed up see it they are milky ao look like clabber, if they are definetly something wrong, is your water level staying up,might be intake leaking.

clabber???

[Rick Parker]

Pressurize the cooling system, you've got moisture in your oil from somewhere.

[undy]

Since RickL ain't here, I take over his verbose commentary for him:

Been there, done that. (coolant leak wise...)

Your heads would be more prone to a pin hole leak, more so than the block. As Rick P said, do an initial pressure test with the valve covers off to see if you've any tell tale internal drips. With the system pressurized, look down into the pushrod holes with a pen light to see if anything's detectable. Check as many of the head bolts' torque as possible while you're there. Your next step would be to pull the intake. Be careful when pulling the intake. You want to preserve the intake gasket as much as possible for inspection. Take a close look at both gaskets for signs of leakage/undue deformation and a uniform crush by the intake. If nothing makes itself known then I'd pull the heads. Take a look at the head gaskets, especially around all the water ports. Again, if nothing stands out then I'd send out the intake and heads for a pressure test. It that proves nothing then you can pressure test the block in place, right side, left side, individually.

It sounds like you're getting a relatively small quantity of coolant in you oil, like I did. It wasn't enough to make the oil milky, just enough to produce vapors and rust things up. You should still have had enough run time to build a bit of a milkshake in the valve covers though. take a look at them.

let us know as your troubleshooting progresses.

[Wbulk]

Did you check the torque on the intake bolts. I've had intakes leak after a rebuild until it was retorqued, then it was fine.

[dlotz]

Originally Posted by undy

Since RickL ain't here, I take over his verbose commentary for him:

Been there, done that. (coolant leak wise...)

Your heads would be more prone to a pin hole leak, more so than the block. As Rick P said, do an initial pressure test with the valve covers off to see if you've any tell tale internal drips. With the system pressurized, look down into the pushrod holes with a pen light to see if anything's detectable. Check as many of the head bolts' torque as possible while you're there. Your next step would be to pull the intake. Be careful when pulling the intake. You want to preserve the intake gasket as much as possible for inspection. Take a close look at both gaskets for signs of leakage/undue deformation and a uniform crush by the intake. If nothing makes itself known then I'd pull the heads. Take a look at the head gaskets, especially around all the water ports. Again, if nothing stands out then I'd send out the intake and heads for a pressure test. It that proves nothing then you can pressure test the block in place, right side, left side, individually.

It sounds like you're getting a relatively small quantity of coolant in you oil, like I did. It wasn't enough to make the oil milky, just enough to produce vapors and rust things up. You should still have had enough run time to build a bit of a milkshake in the valve covers though. take a look at them.

let us know as your troubleshooting progresses.

Oil isn't getting milky.... I will check the valve covers next time I run it. I don't have a vacuum PCV system, I just have the oil vapor canister and surge tank. No vacuum line anywhere which could be my problem.

The car does need to be moving for the oil vapor canister to be working correctly, as the air running over the road draft tube creates the vacuum.

As for the vapor in the dip stick tube, that could be coming directly from the oil return line because it is right next to the dip stick port. The oil return line comes directly from the bottom of the oil vapor canister...... I will disconnect that tonight and see if it stops the dip stick problem.....

What PCV stsyem options do I have? What are you guys using?

[mickmate]

Dan you're using a puke tank as your PCV system. Do you have the canister filter under your breather plate at the back of the manifold? It might be breathing kinda heavy out there without it.

[vector1]

what was the outside temperature when you took the video? lol

[dlotz]

Originally Posted by mickmate

Dan you're using a puke tank as your PCV system. Do you have the canister filter under your breather plate at the back of the manifold? It might be breathing kinda heavy out there without it.

Nick

There is a wire mesh canister under the breather plate in the back of the intake.

[dlotz]

Originally Posted by vector1

what was the outside temperature when you took the video? lol

It was in the mid sixties when I took the video yesterday

[cobrakiwi]

I had the same set up on a build that did the same thing yours is doing may be not quite as much but any how I would try this, remove the feed tube to the puke tank and cap the fitting at the manifold. Also block the drain back to oil pan from the puke tank so basically bypass the puke tank all together. Now make sure your filler cap is a good vented one so the engine can breathe or if you have a set of valve covers with breathers in them use those as well for the test. Take the car for a good run to get it nice and hot and see if there is any change. If no change I would put a good cooling system stop leak in and try, this should help if there is a pin hole some where.
Good luck.

[rustyBob]

138 miles on a fresh rebuild.....and no PCV valve.....
your rings havent seated yet.....your gonna get blowby
on a new motor....if you had a PCV valve hooked up you
wouldent see all that "steam" it would be going out through
the headers.....

[dlotz]

Should I be plugging a line into the base of the carbs for better air flow?

I have seen systems that run a hose from the rear intake plate directly into the carb base plate, but I believe I would need to run valve cover breates for this set up correct?

I would like to maintain the clean pent roof valve covers without breathers.

[undy]

First of all, this thread is going in two directions, steam or blow-by ... two entirely different critters. You need to make sure which one it is first. If it's moisture vapors then you have an internal coolant leak. If it's blow-by (combustion gases blowing by the rings/pistions into the crankcase) you could have unseated rings, busted ring, and/or burnt/broken ring land on a piston.

Get a small make-up mirror from mama and put it in the fridge for a while. After the car's warmed up, running and making the "vapor" put the mirror in the vapor stream. If moisture condenses on the mirror then it's coolant, if not then more than likely blow-by.

Once you know that then you can figure (with our help) where to go from there.

Also, wipe your finger inside the rusting tank. Taste the residue (not much though, don't want to get sick from glycol poisening) If you're running any antifreeze you will be able to tell as it has a distinctive taste if it's an internal coolant leak.

[FWB]

i would change out the breakin oil, put in the 20-50. do some acceleration \deceleration runs to help seat the rings more and see if the quantity of the vapor\fumes has gone down. it sure does look like new motor blowby to me.

fred

[ebustin]

undy is correct. After what you said in your post it does sound more like blow-by. keep looking. Good Luck Ed